Dragons' Children
by Aquariuspower
Summary: Sequel to Dragons' Prince. While Berk and Hiccup are adjusting to their new life-style, some dangerous people take an interest to the children who ride dragons. In order to save lives, Astrid and Hiccup will have to find new ways to conquer their new foes.
1. Chapter 1

**Dragons' Children**

 **Chapter 1**

 **Hi everyone! The sequel is finally here! To those who didn't read Dragon's Prince, I strongly advise you to do so. I hope you'll enjoy this one, I don't think it will be as long as the first one. Don't hesitate to review!**

Life had changed on Berk, everyone agreed upon that. Whenever strangers would come on the island, it was the first thing they would notice, as for people of Berk they could see their village being transformed every day.

It had been four months since they discovered that the Dragon's Prince was Stoick's son and accepted flying reptiles into their tribes. And, according to most of them, it was for the best. Wild dragons would hardly attack anymore since the Red Death had been defeated, and whenever they would, the tamed dragons living on Berks would chase them away. Thanks to that, they didn't need to make almost constant repairs and they had good harvest for the next winter. Summer had been generous, and this autumn had given them a good amount of food as well. But of course, now that more and more Hooligans would tame and adopt dragons, the village needed to make changes in their organization and new structures. But that wasn't all. Being able to fly had made things really different, not only the Hooligans could now see the world in another way, but they could also go faster. However, that required learning how to ride them and getting to know them. Because dragons and had their needs and antics which puzzled humans often.

That morning, Stoick the Vast was the first one to face one of those weird behaviors. He had been woken up by an agitated Toothless: the Night Fury was running through the house, scratching the floor and some furniture, while growling, cooing and sniffing every corner.

"What is wrong with you?! Will you stop that?!"

Toothless looked at him for a mere second before going back to his frenetic search, or at least what seemed to be a search. Stoick was about to yell at him again when he heard his son waking up. The boy came downstairs, barely awake and yawning, it was still early, even though he had never been the kind to sleep late.

"Hi, dad."

"Hi. Your brother is acting weird."

"He is chasing a rat."

"Oh. He looks like a desperate kitty," Stoick huffed in amusement.

The boy couldn't help but giggle, it was true. Toothless continued to scratch, not paying attention to them, and Hiccup told him to be more careful with the house. The dragon listened, but didn't really stop until he got his claws on the poor beast who ended up in his jaws. He and Hiccup didn't stay home for long. He and his friends had work to do. He and Toothless went to the arena, or more exactly what used to be the arena. It was now what Fishlegs would call 'an academy'. Some people were already waiting for them, adults and children, as well as their dragons. Astrid, Fishlegs and Snotlout were here, only the twins were late. He and Astrid kissed, just like they did every time they would meet.

"Now that you're here, we can begin," Astrid declared.

"Without the twins?"

"We can't wait for them forever. I bet we'll be half-through when they'll join us."

They started the lesson, first they taught the villagers about dragons' habits, after that they made communication exercises with the dragons, and finally they practiced on flying. The twins joined them, complaining because their friends didn't wait for them. The new riders of the village were getting better and better, though they still needed some training. Hiccup was also learning a lot, but about humans.

It was difficult at times not to walk on his four, he would also forget that he shouldn't jump around and rub his cheek against people's face to show happiness, but that wasn't the worse. His biggest challenges were money and politics. After living in the wild, those sounded like nonsense to him and he couldn't understand why people would kill for pieces of shiny metals. There were also some people who didn't accept him well. Mildew for example, who absolutely hated dragons, and some people who were also against it. His uncle was also very distant with him, but not for the same reasons. Spitelout had nothing against dragons and acknowledged the good they had brought upon the tribe; however he couldn't accept Hiccup as Stoick's Heir. That was also something which worried him at times: could he really become the next chief as his father wished? He would always reassure himself by thinking that he still had time.

On counterpart, a lot of people here liked him, and other aspects of their lives were really interesting and funny in some ways. He loved the way they would dance and feast to celebrate something; he really enjoyed songs and tales, he liked the forge where it was so easy to create, and he loved reading. He made progresses at it, and he was learning to write as well. It was really much easier to be inventive with all those might at hand. Astrid had also taught him new ways of fighting which helped him to improve and he was now starting to imagine design for new weapons. He kind of liked the animation of the village, though at times it was over-bearing. In those cases he was perfectly free to go in the wild. He also liked the way they cooked food. And of course, he had made new friends and his bond with his father was growing stronger. His dad even got a Thunderdrum named Tornado. He also enjoyed teaching people what he knew about dragons.

In the end, Hiccup had a lot to do in that village, and it was for the best, because it would distract him from thinking about Thunder. Although his bond with his adoptive father had never been strong, he still felt sad for him, and it was the same with Toothless. He hadn't seen Calla or Thinpaws again, they would have to visit her, but there was so much to do here. He and Toothless hadn't travelled far from then island since his brother lost a fin. They were doing perfectly fine together now.

He was still flying with Toothless, explaining to Bucket how to keep balance on his Gronkle, when he spotted something on the beach, far from the harbor. Three human shapes were lying on the sand, and he couldn't recognize them. He called his friends and they went down to see who it could be. When the teens reached them, they were alarmed to see two men and a teenage girl completely soaked and hardly conscious. They had obviously went adrift, some pieces of woods adorned the sand. The teens were joined by their trainees and they went back to the village with the strangers. Those people were so exhausted they didn't protest a bit when they were hoisted on dragons' back. They were brought to Gothi who declared they weren't in danger, though they were dehydrated. Hiccup and his friends sat in the grass, staying close to the hut, and wondering what happened to those people. He took Astrid's hand in his and she returned the gesture with a little smile.

"We had no storm recently," Fishlegs pointed out, "so what happened to them?"

"Maybe they got attacked, or maybe the ship got an accident," Astrid suggested.

"The girl is pretty," Snotlout pointed out.

That was true, although she had been in a bad state on the beach, they had seen her fine face and her jet black hair. She seemed to be their age, and it made them feel even more concerned.

"You have absolutely no chances with her," Tuff declared. "However, I bet I'm her type."

"And how would you know that? You haven't even spoken to her."

"She is a girl, you're Snotlout. I, on the other hand, am an expert into things girls like," he boasted.

Both his sister and Astrid huffed at that.

"I already told you, girls don't like stupid horror stories or insects…" Ruff sneared.

"No, I mean songs and poetry."

"Trust me, Tuff, no one like your poetries," she growled.

Snotlout laughed while Tuff pouted a bit, but it was quite true. Recently the boy had decided to become a poet as well as a warrior, but he was much better with a mace than verses. They saw Stoick approaching.

"Son, I heard you found some people?"

"Yeah, Gothi said they should be fine. They were on the beach."

"Did you speak with them?"

"No, they could hardly keep their eyes open."

"I'm not even sure they understood that we put them on dragons' back," Astrid said.

The strangers were awake quite soon, and Stoick entered along with Hiccup and Astrid to see how they were doing while the others left to take care of some chores, knowing they couldn't crowd Gothi's hut anyway. There was a bald and sturdy man, the second one had short black hair and was thinner, and the girl was very slim with bags under her green eyes. She was pretty but she looked tormented and afraid.

"Good morning to you. You got lucky, my son and his friends saw you down there," Stoick explained.

"Thank you, thank you very much for that. We…We're merchants, our boats got attacked by pirates, we were overwhelmed and we barely got the time to get away."

Those people were obviously tired, yet, Hiccup wasn't sure he wanted them here. Berk was his territory, and he didn't like strangers to come here. But maybe it was stupid. Merchants and travelers would come here and stay for a few days, sometimes they would take a bed in the tavern, and they wouldn't cause troubles. Yet, there was something about them…He couldn't put his finger on it, but he was a bit tense. The girl with black hair looked scared and lost though, and it made him feel bad for her.

"I'm Stoick the Vast, chief of the Hooligans of Berk. What are your names?" Asked Stoick.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I'm rude. My name's Viggo, and this is my brother Ryker and my niece, Heather."

"You can't imagine how thankful we are," said the man named Ryker.

"Are you gonna pursue those pirates?"

"Once we'll get better, you can be sure we will. They almost killed my daughter," he growled while putting a hand on the girl's shoulder.

Astrid noticed immediately the way the girl shuddered at this contact. Why was the girl reacting like that at her father's touch? That wasn't normal, she would never mind when her father would do that. Maybe the girl was still shocked? She remembered how she didn't want to be touched after being attacked by the Outcasts who tried to rape her; maybe the girl went through something similar? Some girls couldn't bear touch from anyone after that. She went to her.

"Hi, my name is Astrid, and this is Hiccup," she said while showing the boy who was staying in the background.

"Heather. You're the one who found us?"

"Yeah, I don't know if you remember the dragons?"

"So I was indeed on a dragon's back? That wasn't some kind of weird dream."

"No, we have dragons here, I don't know if you heard of that."

"So that's not a legend? You do have dragons on Berk?" Asked the one named Viggo.

"You didn't believe it?" Asked Stoick

"We heard of it, but there are so many false rumors, some are just ludicrous," Ryker explained. "when you're a merchant, you must be careful with that."

"Well, you'll see it's true, we do have dragons. I can assure you they are tamed, and we wouldn't tolerate them to be killed."

"We would never do that to our saviors and host," Viggo solemnly declared. "Your laws will naturally be ours."

The young girl shivered and Astrid asked her if she was hungry. She simply nodded, and she went out to get them something to eat. Hiccup was still not speaking a word, staying in the background to observe them. Viggo chose that moment to look at him but didn't utter a word either. Stoick asked them other questions while Gothi was giving them some water and Hiccup just listened. They came from an island south, buying and selling furs and clothes when they got attacked. Astrid came back to announce that Munch and Bucket were offering them shelter. The family gladly accepted and took the food which Astrid fetched them gratefully. Hiccup went out and rubbed his cheek against his brother's head.

" _Something bothering you, I can feel it_."

" _Those people, I'm not feeling that well with them_."

" _Neither do I. They had a strange smell on them_."

" _I didn't catch it_."

" _I did, and I can guarantee you I never smelled that before, but I don't think it's good. It was heavier on the men, the water couldn't wash it away. It wasn't like that with other strangers._ "

" _That's also my feeling._ "

"Hiccup?"

Astrid was coming toward them, she was confused at Hiccup's behavior. He was usually ready to help people, his behavior toward the family puzzled her. When he explained her what was going on, she shrugged.

"They come from a different island, maybe it's a smell of a plant or something we don't have around."

Hiccup translated to his brother but Toothless wasn't convinced. He was a little more hesitant, maybe Astrid was right; before he came to humans, a lot of smells they carried were puzzling him because he didn't know much about them. Maybe he and Toothless were indeed overreacting; some merchants who came here also seemed strange at times because of what they would carry on their boats. Yet, he couldn't wipe this feeling away.

"I don't know…"

"Hiccup, we can't just throw them away because of a bad feeling. Keep an eye on them if you want, but be a bit more courteous. You're the chief's son, you can't behave like that toward strangers, even if you're the Dragons' Prince."

"I know, I know." He turned to Toothless and translated what she just said. " _What do you think?"_

" _About the strangers or about you being the chief's son?" He didn't wait for him to answer. "I don't know about them, I wouldn't trust them so soon. But if the humans want them around, be it. However, we should keep an eye on them. As for you being the chief, I already told you: if you could make me and Thinpaws do what you wished, you can perfectly lead those humans._ "

"He'll keep an eye on them too. He also says that I should be able to be chief."

"I think the same, but you already know that. You shouldn't be so worried about it, I'm pretty sure it will come naturally to you. Plus, I would prefer to see you being chief than Snotlout, and he feels the same."

He knew that, his cousin told him already how he felt about being chief and he could understand, yet it wasn't really reassuring. If he wasn't able to be chief, the next candidate was an unwilling person. Astrid pressed her side against his and he put his head against her shoulder.

"Come on, I don't know about them, but if there is something wrong, we can fight."

"You're right…I'm supposed to find Fishlegs at the forge, but I would rather go in the woods with you."

She couldn't help but giggle a bit and went in the forest. Toothless didn't follow them in here, he knew when a couple needed to be alone. Hiccup and Astrid would only cuddle, kiss and whisper, but Toothless would still leave them alone. It wasn't as if he needed to be constantly at his brother's side, it never was the case. He also liked to be alone at times, or spend times with other dragons. It wasn't the same as before though, since he couldn't fly alone, he couldn't go in the sky with his dragon friends as freely as he used to. The others would join him on the ground however, so he wouldn't complain. He was alive, it was the most important. He went to tease Stormfly who was sunbathing in the grass.

Meanwhile, Fishlegs, who was supposed to go to the forge, was going back toward Gothi's hut. Gobber wouldn't be happy about it, but he had a good excuse. He wanted to see those people again, the girl more especially. He couldn't help but redden a bit at this. He crossed their way as Stoick was escorting them toward the village. The bigger man was helping the young girl to walk properly.

"Chief, hum…I was thinking that maybe I could lead them for you…Hum, where are going?"

"Well, that was thoughtful of you. They're going to Munch and Bucket's house."

He left Fishlegs with them and the boy dutifully escorted them. He noticed how the girl seemed nervous at the sight of dragons flying around. Gathering all his courage, he spoke to her:

"Don't be scared, they won't hurt you."

"It's so strange to think that you're riding them. You have a dragon?" Asked she.

"Yeah, a Gronkle. She is very kind if you want to see her."

"Of…Of course, if my…My father allows me."

"I'll stay with you, I know we're hosts here, but I'm not used to have my little girl around dragons," Ryker said half-jokingly.

"Of course. I'm Fishlegs by the way."

"Viggo, Ryker and Heather. It's very kind of you, I would be curious to see your dragons as well. You must be brave to ride them, I don't know if I would dare myself."

"Oh, it's not that hard…We're here."

He didn't even have to knock, Bucket opened already and invited them in. Guessing they wouldn't want to be crowded, Fishlegs decided to leave. Before he did, Heather gave him a tiny smile. Butterflies invaded his belly, and he clumsily said goodbye. He felt impatient to show her Meatlug. Inside, Munch did his best to be inviting while reminding Bucket to give the family some space. They had a room they didn't use anymore, it belonged to Munch's father when he was still alive. Once alone, Viggo made sure the two men wouldn't hear them.

"Well, brother, I must admit you're a good actor," he told Ryker.

"A genuine praise, how rare it is from you."

"I can't really say the same about you, Heather. It's okay for now to act like a scared doe, but you'll have to do better and very soon."

"I will, I swear," she said with resignation.

"But why did you give them our names? We should have taken fake identities."

"The best liars always say the truth. They don't have our family name, and at least there are no risks for us to make a stupid mistake." He sighed and rubbed his shoulders. "I think that boy has a crush on you, Heather. You'd better use it."

"Do I have to seduce the chief's son too?"

"We'll see. He wasn't what I expected, we'll need to observe him a bit, and that other girl, the dragons' Princess. I don't know if it was that blond girl from earlier or another, but we have to find her too."

"We will. I'm pretty sure they'll be proud to show their little prodigies."

"Let's hope so."

It was going well, everything was fine. They just had to wait some days, if it all went as well, it would be easy. Viggo was almost impatient, that boy wasn't what he expected at all, and he somehow liked when something surprised him, it felt challenging. All in all, he was pretty sure this would be very interesting.

 **Well, don't hesitate to tell me what you think about it.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

 **Hi everyone! I have to apologize for the time it took, I had some things to deal with and it took a lot of time. Also, my computer recently had to go through repairs and it was away for a few week. Even though my mom let me borrow my laptop, I was left without my files (because I forgot to save those on my USB). But now, enough with that, I'll let you enjoy that new chapter!**

 **Just a little summary before for those who needs it: Hiccup is adapting to the tribe after killing the Red death. With the help of his friends, he teaches the inhabitants of Berk to ride dragons. One morning, three castaways are found: Viggo, Ryker and Heather, a small family. They are greeted by Stoick, but Hiccup have suspicions.**

This evening, the castaways came in the Great Hall to dine with the other people. Hiccup still disliked that, but he didn't say a word. Astrid kissed him as an encouragement, so he decided to ignore them, until the girl with black hair came toward them. Fishlegs beamed, and maybe that was the reason why the dragon-boy did nothing to lead her away.

"Heather! I'm glad you'll join us!"

"I'm glad too, it's good to be with people of my age."

"You travel a lot?" Asked Astrid.

"Yes; sometimes we have young sailors with who I can befriend, but not recently. By the way, could you remind me of your names?"

They all introduced themselves, but when it was Hiccup's turn, he did nothing. He just remained silent, until Astrid nudged him.

"My name is Hiccup."

The girl awkwardly smiled to him, obviously taken aback by his cold attitude. Astrid spoke again: "I bet that you never saw any dragon riders in spite of all your travels?"

"Never indeed. Fishlegs told me he got a Gronkle, what do you have?"

"A Nadder, her name is Stormfly."

They happily chatted, only Hiccup remained silent and scarcely spoke to her. He looked at Astrid and immediately saw that she was disappointed. He took her hand gently, and though she didn't take hers away, she didn't respond to his touch. Heather was impressed when Fishlegs explained that Astrid was the one nicknamed 'the Dragons' Princess'. In the end, pretty much everyone liked her, except maybe the Dragons' Prince.

"What is wrong with you?!" Hissed Astrid once they were outside.

"What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean: why are you acting like that?"

"I told you, I don't like those strangers much. Why should we let them around our dragons?"

"Come on, a dragon is not a kitten, they can defend themselves! And they are probably aware that hurting any of them would be their doom! Why do you suspect them like this?!"

"I don't know, but they are different from the usual merchants!"

"That's not a good reason. You are different from other humans, yet I took the risk and tried to know more about you. You, above all of people, should know that rejecting someone because they're different is wrong."

She left him here and went home. He didn't try to catch her back, disappointed and angry because she couldn't understand, because she had a point and he didn't like to admit it. His dad went home soon enough, and his son's bad mood didn't escape him. Even though Hiccup was a bit reluctant to tell him at first, he finally spilled everything out.

"I see. You're both right in a way."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, it's true they are guests, therefore we have to be welcoming. But it's not a bad idea to stay on guard either. After all, it's unwise to trust strangers too much."

"So you understand how I feel."

"I do, though I don't see why you're feeling especially wary of them."

"I don't really know either, but Toothless caught a strange smell on them, and my instinct tells me I should beware. What should I do?"

"Well, try to be friendlier. If Astrid is right, you'll avoid rejecting people for no reasons; and if you're right, then it will be easier for you to discover what they are doing by getting close to them."

"That's smart…You're slier than I thought!"

"Haha! Not that much, actually, but you pick a thing or two while being chief. I can tell you that it's better not to let your enemies see through you."

"And when I'm suspicious about someone, I shouldn't let them know," he summed up. "I often used tricks and all against dragons, because they were stronger than me, I had to be smarter than them. But tricking a dragon and tricking a human isn't the same."

"I'm sure you can figure something out. They'll stay for some times and work in the harbor in exchange of a small ship. Just be careful, okay? If you've got anything, tell me immediately."

Hiccup smiled to him, he was feeling better now. That night, his mind worked on how he would approach them. At the same time, Viggo was plotting as well. He and his 'family' had waited for their hosts to be asleep before talking.

"Now, tell me, my dear Heather, what did you learn about them?"

"Well, not much it was mainly a friendly conversation. Oh yes, that guy Snotlout boasted about the fact they were the ones teaching the rest of the village about dragons. And the girl Ruffnutt said that it was mainly thanks to Hiccup that they could do it."

"He is key to their dragon training, nothing I couldn't have guessed."

"I'm sorry, but I couldn't ask too many questions; it would have been obvious."

"To her defense, we didn't learn anything more interesting."

Viggo gave Ryker a murderous look, and thankfully enough, it made him shut up. Heather was obviously afraid.

"They…They invited me to come and see their dragons tomorrow. Fishlegs says that I could even ride on his dragon."

"Ah! Now that's interesting. Now, tell me everything you can about the dragons' prince. I said that already, but he isn't what I imagined at all."

"That's probably because idiots told us he was bigger and taller than three men. People and their need to exaggerate!"

Viggo nodded, for once, he couldn't disagree with Ryker. People could really be idiotic when it came to rumors.

"Well, he didn't really speak to me, I don't know, he seems to dislike me. The girl, however, the dragon's princess, seem to like me more. Her real name is Astrid, she is the one with the blue eyes the shorter hair. I saw him kissing her and taking her hand. Do you…Do you still want me to seduce him?"

"No, she'll hate you, and you don't need that. Worse, the whole group could hate you if you try to break them apart. Just be their friend; show her you're no rival. Plus, you still have an opening with that Fishlegs. As for that Hiccup…I don't think he suspects anything, maybe it's simply the result of being feral most of his life."

She simply nodded, feeling incredibly relieved and they finally got to bed. She did her best to sleep, but her bloodshot eyes showed how much she failed to do that. Viggo told her he would come with her in order to see the teens himself. She was far from thrilled when she heard that, but she showed nothing. Instead, she put on her most charming smile and went to find Fishlegs in spite of that. He was talking with Astrid.

"Hi!"

"Hey! How are you? Good morning, sir," Astrid said politely.

"Good morning to you. If I understood well, you invited my niece for a dragon ride."

"Y…yes, if you agree with it," Fishlegs stuttered.

"I would just like to be around. My brother wasn't willing to let Heather around dragons alone, but he also wanted to give our hosts a hand for the housework. That's why I suggested to go in his stead. So I'm afraid you'll have to endure my presence for a bit," he joked.

"No problem!"

The teens brought the guests to their dragons; Viggo stayed out of their conversation but listened carefully.

"I'm sorry for Hiccup's behavior yesterday. He is always nervous with strangers; he still has to adjust to the village's life."

"Oh, I thought I did something wrong," Heather admitted.

"No, don't worry."

. As she was thinking about him, she saw him with Toothless and the other dragons. He was wrestling playfully with the Night Fury, and once again, she could see the feral boy she ran away with. Even though she was angry at him, she couldn't help but smile and soften. He was pinned on the ground by Toothless when he noticed them.

"Here you are, I wondered if we would see you," she told him with a grin.

He looked up at her and smiled. Jumping back on his feet, he kissed her briefly but tenderly. He turned to Viggo and Heather: "Good morning. I hope you're well installed."

Though a bit awkward, his greeting was a relief compared to yesterday's coldness and Astrid took his hand to show him she was happy about that.

"Very well, Mulch and Bucket are really nice to us," Heather answered. "So…Those are your dragons…They're impressive."

Even though Heather was intimidated at first, Fishlegs took her hand (blushing like crazy while doing so) and pressed it against Meatlug's snout. The female Gronkle reacted positively, licking the girl's hand and waving her tail. She backed away when Viggo approached though. It only fed Hiccup's suspicion. The same thing happened with Stormfly. Fishlegs took Heather on Meatlug's back and they heard the girl yelp when they started to fly. Hiccup looked at Viggo and saw he was carefully watching his niece. Something still felt weird to him, but he couldn't put his finger on it. Astrid turned toward him:

"I'm going to look for the others. Stay here, okay?"

"I will."

He watched her leave, but strangely, she told Stormfly to stay where she was. He also decided to stay on the ground, he didn't want to leave the man by himself around the dragons. He thought Viggo would try to get out of his sight, but no. Instead, the man came and sat by his side in the grass. Immediately, Toothless came at his brother's side and curled his tail around Hiccup's form while growling, showing clearly that he wouldn't let that stranger hurt him. Viggo tensed a bit, and Hiccup quieted Toothless with a few scratches and petting.

"He won't hurt you. He just shows you shouldn't hurt me."

"I have no bad intention toward you, or him. I just want to make sure that Heather will be alright. You don't fly with them?"

"No, not right now, I'm waiting for my friends."

They watched the pair flying silence; Heather would open her arms to feel the wind, only to embrace Fishlegs again whenever she would get scared. Hiccup couldn't help but smile, she reminded him a bit of Astrid during her first flight.

"I know I'm probably not the first one, but may I ask you some questions?" Viggo asked gently.

"What kind?"

"I would like to know how you found yourself with dragons; that's not exactly common."

"I thought you heard of me already? Didn't you hear about my story?"

"I heard some tales, but people often say wrong things. I heard you were taller than grown men, for exemple. So I don't know what's real anymore."

"Well, my house was on fire and both my father and my mother tried to save me both. But my mother got me first and kept me as her cub."

Though his explanation confused Viggo at first, he understood quickly enough that he was talking about his human father and his dragon mother. He grinned: "Quite simple actually. It was probably tough to survive among dragons."

"I had my family. You mostly need to be swift."

"Yeah…I know how that feels, I was very thin as well when I was a boy…"

He stopped his sentence, and Hiccup couldn't help but find his expression quite strange. Toothless was still watching Viggo carefully. He growled to Hiccup: " _I still dislike this smell. I think the others smelled it as well. Meatlug was wary, and she rarely is._ "

" _I know, but I need to know more about him._ "

" _We should follow them when they go home. Maybe that way I could find where that smell comes from._ "

" _Good idea. But for now, I'll just speak with him_."

Viggo seemed a bit lost at this and Hiccup pretended he was only reassuring his brother.

"I can understand, Ryker can be a bit protective of me. But how did you survive without encountering any humans? Surely, there are things dragons couldn't do for you."

"I had a human friend, she helped me with some things. But she is dead now."

He didn't say anything else; he didn't want to speak about Millie. He missed her sometimes, when he wouldn't understand humans, he wished she was there to explain. Thankfully, he had his friends. Before Viggo could speak again, the others arrived. Fishleg and Hetaher went back on the ground and Viggo told her that he would go work on the harbor, as they decided they would pay their ship that way. The seven teens spent most of their times together, Snotlout trying to hit on her, but it seemed like she preferred Fishlegs. During the afternoon, Astrid suggested Hiccup they could take some times apart. He thought she only wanted to spend some times with him, but once they were in the woods, out of reach, she became dead serious:

"Hiccup, I think you might be right."

"About the strangers?"

"Yes. There is something weird. I remember that when we met them, I felt something wrong; I brushed it off, but I felt it again."

"Finally! You see, I…" He stopped at her angry look. "Okay. What is it?"

"Well, when her father touched her, she was uneasy. And now, I noticed she was avoiding her uncle's eyes. If anything, she hardly speaks to him, she just replies to him. As if she was scared."

Hiccup's eyes widened slightly. She was right! That was one of the things which nagged him: they were not a normal family. He had felt him without seeing it.

"You're right, I think I felt it, but I didn't know what it was exactly! There is something else, though. This guy Viggo was talking to me and something was strange. I didn't really want to answer his questions, but I felt I had to."

"What did you speak about?"

He explained her and she seemed thoughtful: "It doesn't seems like weird questions, I mean, people are curious about you. Maybe we really are imagining things. But just to be sure, we should speak with the other riders."

He nodded and smiled to her while taking her hands: "Not right now. We took some times alone after all."

With a little smile, she kissed him: "It's going to rain, let's find a shelter."

"Why? Can't handle a bit of rain?"

"Of course I can! But it's a bit annoying, you see."

"I like it on you."

"You like rain on me?"

"Yes, I like to see water run on your skin, especially when it shines once the clouds are gone. It looks like you're made of sun."

She couldn't help but blush at those words: "That was quite poetic."

The rain did fall, and the animals around were the only ones to witness the two teens running and dancing while the thunder was roaring above the forest.

The next days went normally, the group was watching the newcomers carefully (though Fishlegs was a bit unwilling to do that to Heather); Viggo and Ryker would mostly spend time helping Mulch and Bucket, working in the harbor and training with some Hooligan men. They were making some friends already. Heather would either help her family or stay with the teens or go on the beach. All in all, they were doing nothing suspicious. Sometimes, Viggo or Ryker would watch Heather while she was learning how to ride a dragon. While Ryker wouldn't speak much to him, Viggo would ask Hiccup question and chat with the boy. Although he would never say or do anything wrong or suspicious or mean, Hiccup would always feel a bit uneasy.

Snotlout soon noticed that his father was getting along well with Ryker and Viggo. Naturally worried for his dad, he warned him to be careful around them, that they suspected something, but Spitelout just brushed it off. According to him, Hiccup was nothing but a wilding who was scared of anything and unable to act friendly. Though Snotlout wanted to defend his cousin, he failed at it. His father still hated the Dragons' Prince and would hardly call him his nephew.

"Believe me, son, you would have been a much better chief. I'm pretty sure you'll be, by the way, there is no way that runt could ever be a good heir."

He just left their house and Snotlout followed him outside and saw he was going toward the tavern. His mother was home soon.

"Where is your father?"

"At the tavern. Is it me or…I mean…"

"He spends more and more time there," Maka hissed. "I'm tired. I'll give him a dress down tomorrow. Going at the tavern at times is fine, but he gets drunk too often."

Snotlout didn't like that truth but he couldn't deny it. He went to find Hookfang and spent some times with his dragon friend, the one he could talk to with absolutely no fear. Spitelout was home really late that night; being awaken by his noises, Snotlout saw with fear that Viggo was helping his dad to walk back home.

 **O o O**

"Did you hear what they were saying?" Asked Hiccup the next morning, after Snotlout told him what happened.

"No, sadly I didn't. Anyway when my dad is drunk, it's a bit hard to understand him," Snotlout sighed.

Hiccup nodded slightly, it was the same with his dad. "I don't think they'll try to hurt him, though. I mean, why would they do that?"

"Yeah, and if they wanted to hurt him, they would have done it while he was drunk, hardly able to defend himself," added Snotlout to reassure himself.

"Indeed."

"What are you two talking about?"

They saw the twins coming toward them. They had that usual stupid smile they would always wear whenever they did some stupid trick.

"We decided to relocate Mildew's chickens inside his house. Poor thing were a bit sad outside!" Ruff laughed.

"They were so happy to be in a cozy that they decided to paint it in their own way," Tuff added. "I must say, I'm starting to be really fond of chickens, in fact, this inspires me…"

"No!" Yelled Snotlout.

"Oh gosh, are you touchy!"

"Viggo is getting a bit too close to his dad," Hiccup explained.

"He is getting close to Mildew as well. He was walking the stinky old man back home when they surprised us," Ruff declared thoughtfully.

"What? What did you say?"

"Viggo was talking to Mildew. I don't know what they were saying, but the old grump almost looked like he was in a good mood."

"Yeah, we always see him growl and yell at us, usually."

"I don't mean to defend the old grump but there is a reason for that," Snotlout sneered.

Hiccup didn't say anything; instead, he stood up and went to find Astrid. When she heard what had been said, she voiced out his suspicions: "He is getting close with people who hates you. You know, now that I think about it, I saw him speaking a lot with the Leifman yesterday."

The Leifman was a couple who didn't like Hiccup and resented him for bringing dragons around. They went to find Stoick, but he wasn't home. They eventually found him in the harbor, and they were surprised to see that the foreigners were ready to leave. The ship they obtained was just a small fishing boat, but it would be fine enough for three people. Heather seemed nervous again, and Viggo and Ryker were thanking everyone.

"I'm aware you're being generous," Viggo declared. "We'll be back as soon as possible with many merchandises and gifts to thank you."

"I hope nothing wrong will happen to you on your way."

"A boat like that is rarely noticed by pirates, and the weather seems favorable. We'll go to Berserker Island, I think. We have friends there who will be able to help us."

"Oswald is someone good, he'll help you I'm sure."

"He'll be too preoccupied, from what I heard, his two children had disappeared."

"A tragic story, indeed," said Viggo while sneaking an arm around Heather's shoulder.

Hiccup couldn't help but hiss silently and curl his lips when he saw the way she tensed. In fact, she had turned pale at their last sentences. Astrid and Fishlegs both noticed that and the shy boy couldn't but voice his concern: "Heather, are you alright?"

"Ye…Yeah, just a bit nervous to sail again."

"It should be alright," Ryker assured.

The whole group was dumbfounded. Nothing wrong happened at all, they were leaving peacefully and everyone was wishing them a good trip.

"Maybe they'll do something when they'll come back," suggested Astrid once the group was away from prying ears.

"Or maybe they got too scared to try anything," Ruff said.

"Or maybe they were spying but only to see whether or not we had wrong intentions toward the rest of the archipelago," Fishlegs murmured. "Maybe it was preventive."

"Or maybe their plans just failed. We know, Ruff and I, that plans can totally fail at times, no matter how awesome those can get."

"Or maybe we were just wrong," mumbled Snotlout.

"Hiccup?"

He was silent, but when he saw all his friends looking at him, he spoke: "There was something wrong with Heather, guys. And there was something wrong with those men. But yeah, maybe…Maybe they are bad people, but that doesn't mean they'll try to hurt us."

"They'll come back, let's keep that in mind," Astrid reminded them.

As they would often do, the young couple went in the forest to spend some time alone. Their dragons came along, Toothless would annoy and tease his brother at times en he wouldn't chase birds with Stormfly.

"It's weird, but after everything we did, I'm almost…Disappointed," Astrid murmured to him while leaning against him and holding his hand. "I wouldn't say that to the others, because it's egoistical. After all, it's much better for everyone if those guys were fine. But I thought we would discover something."

"Yeah, I feel quite the same. It's weird. But I have to say I started to like Heather"

"Me too. She really doesn't seem like a bad person, she is quite funny in fact."

"Fishlegs will be happy to see her again," Hiccup murmured with a grin.

"Yeah! However, we should…"

Sudden growls, followed by a whimper and a grunt stopped Astrid in her tracks. They saw Stormfly and Toothless agitated and stumbling. They rushed to them and Hiccup tried to ask what was wrong, but for the first time Toothless wouldn't answer. All they could do was watch in despair as their dragons became limp. Before they could do anything else, they both felt a sting. They just had the time to see the small darts planted in their skin before falling into darkness.

 **Now, what will happen to our poor kidnapped friends? Well, you'll see in the next chapter! Don't hesitate to review, and sorry again for the time it took! The next chapter of The Shieldmaiden and the Fury should be updated soon.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

 **Hi! I know I didn't update since long! I'll give you a little summary of what happened:**

 **Hiccup is adjusting to his new life when castaways are found on the beach. A family composed by Ryker, his daughter Heather and his brother Viggo. They are actually spies who are there to infiltrate the tribe. They manage to get close to the teens through Heather, though hiccup is having suspicions about them. AT the end of chapter 2, the strangers seemingly leave the island, but a few hours later, Astrid, Hiccup and their dragons are captured.**

O o O

That evening, when the village dinned in the Great Hall, Stoick wondered where his son was. He knew he and his friends could spend a lot of times hanging around with their dragons. When he saw the other teens coming in the Great Hall minus his son and Astrid, he asked them where the couple was.

"Oh, they went together in the forest," Ruff said with a little giggle.

Stoick felt a bit reassured. Like any young couple who liked to flirt and all, they wanted some time alone. Yet as time started to pass, he was getting more worried. Dinner was almost over and they weren't here already. Astrid's parents went to him, wet from the rain outside.

"Stoick, we searched for our girl, but she is nowhere to be found. Does your son knows where she is?"

"Apparently they went together in the forest. They often do that."

"But they never miss dinner."

That was true…Where could they be? "Maybe they found shelter because thye didn't want to walk or ride under the rain," Stoick offered, though he was starting to doubt that. "Let's try to search for them.

A search party was organized, and though at first, most people weren't worried, they eventually realized there was a problem. By the morning, they were still nowhere to be found. Fishlegs, Snotlout and the twins were really worried. They knew Astrid and Hiccup, they were perfectly capable to survive in the forest, they weren't simply lost or something like that. They rode their drgaons all around the island but found nothing.

"Do you think they got attacked?" Snolout asked.

"By who? The strangers left," Fishlegs pointed out.

"Maybe they came back, a bit like when Barf fake to turn his head to attack Belch right after," Ruff suggested, not really considering what she was saying.

Fishlegs thought of that. What if…What if it was indeed the case? What if they faked their departure? But Astrid and Hiccup were in the forest and those strangers didn't know the local woods at all. Or maybe it wasn't them? Maybe it was someone of the island who hurt them, like Mildew or that couple, the Leifman, they never liked the arrival of Hiccup and the dragons. Or maybe it was Spitelout…This was really possible after all…Fishlegs had always been worried that Spitelout might try something against Hiccup, but he didn't dare to speak much about it, because even if Snotlout loved his cousin, his father was still his father. But if it was indeed Spitelout…Then it meant than the boy would have to choose between his cousin and his father and Fishlegs feared that.

"Maybe they're really just exploring something, I don't know, Hiccup is always curious about everything," Snotlout suggested. It was obvious though that the boy wasn't really believing it. There was fear in his voice, and he was indeed very worried. His cousin was a wilding, and Astrid was so strong it was scary. So why weren't they coming back? What if they were wounded? He didn't want to lose his cousin!

Back on the ground, they saw an agitated Stoick, he ordered the people to continue the searches on the island and he gathered the best riders of Berk. He and Astrid's parents gave stuff belonging both to Hiccup and Astrid to have the dragons memorize their scent. Stoick would ride North with a few other riders trained by Hiccup while Astrid's parents would lead the search on the island. He looked at the teens: "I'm counting on you; you helped bringing my son and Astrid back in the past. If you come across them, do everything you can, and if you need help, call us as quickly as possible."

"Count on us, Chief," Snotlout bravely stated.

"We'll get them back in no time," Tuff added right behind.

Stoick hoped that was true. He couldn't bear it, thinking that his son could be in danger right now…For years he had believed him dead, for years he had mourned, then the gods had been generous enough to give him back. His only child, his son, the last remain of Valka, and finally he had been able to be a father again. The gods couldn't be cruel enough to take him back once more! He didn't know if they got lost, or if someone took them, but if it was indeed someone's doing, he would make them pay! No one took his son away from him!

 **O o O**

Numbness was Astrid's first impression when she opened her eyes. She felt her body moving, someone was shaking her.

"Astrid! Astrid, are you alright?!"

She blinked several times and when her mind was clearer, she got on her elbow and looked up to see Hiccup sitting at her side. She noticed a bruise on his face and a cut on his lip.

"Hey…What happened?"

"We got taken."

Her eyes widened. It didn't take long to realize they were in a cell, and giving the movements of the wooden floor, it was easy to understand they were on a boat.

"Who? What happened?"

"I don't know. When I…opened my eyes men were putting us here. I tried to fight, but they hit me."

She touched his face gently: "Are you okay?"

"Of course. But I don't know what they want. If they wanted to kill us, they had killed us already?"

"You're right," she declared, not bothering to correct him grammar. "But I wonder what they want. And who are they?"

"They said nothing…Well, they insulted me for hitting and biting them. But they didn't say why we are here. And I don't know what they did with Toothless and Stormfly!"

This scared her deeply. Maybe their captors didn't want them dead, but what if their dragons had no value for them?! Maybe they just killed them to bring back trophies! They stood up and tried to look through the bars to see anything which could help. There were other cells around, but they could hear no one.

"Astrid, if our dragons aren't here…"

"We…We can't be sure if they're dead."

She almost felt nauseous at her own words. Dead…She remembered now how they were falling unconscious in the forest. Hiccup put his hand over hers, though he was as worried as her, he wanted her to keep hope. Suddenly, a noise was heard, a trap door was opened and a man started to descend. The teens held the bars, bracing themselves for whatever would happen. The man saw them standing and turned back without a word.

"Wait, who are you?!"

This was left unanswered; the man went up and closed the trap door. "Well…That wasn't weird at all!" Hiccup huffed.

The trap door was opened again soon and this time, they saw Viggo coming down, followed by Ryker and a few soldiers. Both teens felt their gut tighten at this, and Hiccup growled. He was right: He knew it! Astrid felt a pang of guilt for all the time she told Hiccup he was wrong. He had good reasons to distrust those strangers! Both of them were smirking.

"Not feeling too dizzy?" Asked Ryker mockingly.

"What did you do with our dragons?" Hiccup growled.

"Well, I personally wanted to skin them and wear that Night Fury as a coat, but Viggo reminded me we had greater purpose for those."

Viggo rolled his eyes in an amused way: "I can assure you that your dragons are okay. Certainly not happy to be caged, but alive and well. And you'll all stay as such if you're nice."

"How can we know you're telling the truth?" Asked Astrid. "You're obviously neither honest nor trustworthy."

"Harsh words, my dear, we're not as deceitful as you might think. Put chains on them," he ordered to Ryker and the guards. "Oh, and if you think of resisting, we'll send a signal to have your dragons punished."

The threat was enough to make the teenager docile enough, although they both wished nothing but to fight back and beat them. Yet they couldn't take any risks for their dragons. The shackles around their wrist were both linked to long chains which were kept firmly in Ryker's hand. They were led on the deck. Hiccup immediately winced in disgust, his nose quivering. A strong smell of blood invaded his nostrils and he saw the mast had been partially covered with blood. There were probably blood elsewhere, and he wondered what the hell they had been doing. Astrid didn't notice the mast, her smell wasn't as strong as Hiccup's one. However, she saw Heather, standing still, her arms tightly embracing her form. Astrid felt a rush of anger. She rushed suddenly toward her and was pulled away by Ryker who harshly tugged on her chains. She almost lost balance as she was forced to step back. She spat of the floor.

"Bitch!" She yelled at Heather. "We accepted you! We trusted you!"

"I do what I have to do for my family."

"I'll murder this family of yours! I can promise you that!" Hiccup sneered harshly. "I knew you were bad!"

Heather didn't say another word and just walked away. Viggo laughed at those words. "Calm down, the two of you. You might not find your fate that bad. Come."

They led the teenagers to the other end of the boat where two cages in which they saw Stormfly and Toothless. Both had their paws chained and were muzzled. The teens tried to run to them but Ryker seized Astrid while Viggo restrained Hiccup. AT their sight, the two dragons struggled against their bonds and tried to smash their bars.

" _Stop, you'll hurt yourself_ ," shrieked Hiccup. Viggo put a hand over his mouth.

"I don't know what you're saying to him, but I'd rather avoid any communication between the two of you."

"How are they gonna survive like this? How will they drink and eat?" Astrid yelled, desperate at the sight of the two dragons, especially Stormfly, caged and chained like this.

"We'll undo those when necessary to give them water and food every day," a guard explained.

Viggo and Ryker brought the two prisoners back into their cells. Although they were partly relieved from seeing their dragons alive, that didn't solve everything. They were still prisoners.

"What do you want with us?"

"You'll discover when we get there, but I assure you we have no intention of making you rot in a cell. Except if you do something really stupid. It would pain me to have to kill you, but if you become a threat, I wouldn't hesitate. Or maybe we could gut one of the dragons under your eyes."

With that, they left the teens in their cells. Hiccup slid against the wooden wall. He couldn't believe this was happening again. He remembered the Hooligan jail, back then when he and Stoick didn't know they were father and son, when he was Berk's enemy. The despair he had felt for Toothless had been devouring, and now it was exactly the same. Astrid sat at his side and passed an arm around his shoulder comfortingly.

"It's like when I was your prisoner…I hated that cell…And I was scared for Toothless."

"We'll get out of here," she whispered. "You managed to get out of your cell and make Toothless escape, remember?"

"Of course…I bit Snotlout's face…I didn't know we were cousins."

"How did you get out?" Asked she. "Maybe, we could try to do the same. I saw the cages, those aren't locked, we could open those easily. We just need to get out of here."

"I laid on the floor to let them believe I was dead…"

A few times later, when a guard came to feed them, he saw Hiccup agitated, whimpering like an animal, shaking the girl's body as she was unconscious over the ground. The man growled. What the hell was wrong with that brat? He called for help while opening the cell, but when he kneeled at the girl's side, a hard blow struck the back of his neck and before he could do anything, the girl rose her arm to hit his throat. His breath was cut off and he was completely dizzy. A few other blows and the teens had taken his axe and his knife and they were going out of the cell. Another soldier arrived and he tried to disarm Astrid who had the axe. She blocked the blow and attacked him. The man parried but suddenly felt pain in his side. The boy had sneaked toward him to plant the knife in his side.

The man fell down and the teens went through the trap door. It was dark outside and there were less men on the decks. The teens ran toward the cages, if they could take the muzzle off of Toothless's jaw, he would be able to break the chains…As they got closer to the cages, their ankle collided with something. They both fell hard on the floor. Suddenly, something fell on them and covered them. The teens realized it was a net. Astrid saw a thin rope stretched over the deck. That was what they tripped over…A trap…

"Prisoners escaping! Before they could free themselves, they were pinned by strong hands. More soldiers came to restrain them. Soon enough, they understood they failed. Viggo and Ryker arrived, Heather behind them. The dark-haired man smiled at them smugly.

"Too impatient…I was pretty sure you would eventually try something like that…Let's see…I promised that your dragon would be punished if you tried something foolish, didn't I, Ryker?"

"I don't remember, but we're going to do it anyway!"

"I'll let you the honor, brother. Not the Night Fury, though, he is too precious."

Ryker nodded, took a hammer from one of the soldiers and advanced slowly toward the chained Nadder. Astrid felt her blood freezing.

"NO! STORMFLY!"

The man wasn't bothered in the slightest by her desperate call. He opened the door and the Nadder tried to free herself from the chain. Yet that was no use. Making the hammer swirl, Ryker crushed it against Stormfly's wing hard.

 _CRACK…_

The beats trashed in pain and though she couldn't shriek because of the muzzle, her eyes were tale-telling. Hiccup was breathless and Astrid screamed in horror. Ryker turned to them:

"Now, will you be nice, or do I have to break the other wing?"

"Put them back in their cell, and try to be more careful."

None of the Drogans' children tried to retaliate or resist. Astrid could only watch her dragon's body trashing in spasms of pain. Hiccup was enraged and remorseful. Why did they have to do something so foolish?! Why?! Once they got back in the cell, Astrid started to cry. He took her in his arms, and kissed the top of her head. He hoped the Nadder would be able to fly again…

While they were locking the teens again, Heather started to worry. Yes, they caught them back, but they really almost escaped. Plus, there were other risks. She took a deep breath and went to Viggo. Before he could speak, she asked bluntly:

"What if their friends find them?"

"Why do you think I put blood over the boat? Their dragons can scent nothing, and it would be a miracle if they managed to spot us in the middle of the ocean."

O o O

A few days passed and both teens were still worried about Stormfly. The way her wing had cracked…Oh and what if she could never fly again? Both Astrid and Hiccup were feeling guilty, it was their idea to try to break out even though they had been warned. They couldn't try that again, not only because they had seen the risk, but because they couldn't fly away without Stormfly. Sure, toothless could have carried the two teens, but they couldn't leave the Nadder alone with those men.

They wouldn't speak to the guards. The man Hiccup stabbed was being healed, but his friends had been pretty angry at the teens for what they did. That's why one night, five of them got into the cell and gave the teens a good beating. Although Hiccp and Astrid had tried to fight back, they had been outnumbered and unarmed. One of the man even told Astrid he would have gladly raped her, he was only sparing her because he feared to lose his head otherwise. So instead they had punched and kicked the teen badly. They couldn't wound them fatally, but neither Viggo nor Ryker would mind some bruises.

Being forced to stay in that cell allowed them to recover, that was the only positive point. At times, they could hear dragon's pleas or shrieks. Once or twice, those had been loud enough to allow Hiccup to decipher those. He had heard his brother cursing his captor, promising death in the worst way possible. At least, Toothless was still fierce.

One day, they were shackled at pulled by Ryker once again. "Good news, wildings, we're finally here! You'll finally get your ass out of this cell and do something useful."

Although they were still a bit sore from the beating they got and the confinement they endured, the prisoners did their best to walk with dignity. On the deck, their caged dragons were being transported by several men. The teens saw that they were before a shore, lined with high cliffs. It reminded Hiccup of Berk, above the harbors, stairs were leading at the top of the cliffs, were a village would probably lie. Ryker tugged on their chains and the teens advanced without putting a fuss. They knew they couldn't escape anyway, and they wanted to stay close to their dragons. Hiccup looked at Astrid, what would they do to them, now? She was as clueless as he. They could hear voices coming from above. They finally reached the top. As they were pulled to advance, they saw it.

There was a village indeed, and spikes marked the entrance of the village…Spikes with dragons' skulls on it. Hiccup hissed at this sight, and he did it furthermore when he saw the mass of villagers.

A lot of people were waiting at the top of the stairs, all pressing themselves as if there was something amazing to see. They all seemed amazed at the sight of Toothless. The Night Fury growled through the muzzle and shook his chains; oh, if only he could get free and murder all those humans keeping him prisoner! He struggled even more when people started to gather around his cage. A guard tried to keep them at bay: "The Night Fury is precious, back away!"

"Enough, back away!"

A strong voice yelled the order and the people backed away indeed. Hiccup and Astrid saw man with white hair advancing. In spite of his advanced age, he was still broad and tall. He was wearing a heavy dark cloak of fur and a necklace made of dragon teeth. An axe and a whip were at his hips, and a scar was adorning the right side of his face. The way people looked at him showed he was respected, feared even. Heather lowered her head in fear and even Ryker tensed a bit. Only Viggo kept his cool. He took the chains from his brother's hands. The old man smirked at him.

"A Night Fury…That's a good catch. But I hope your hunt was more proficient."

Yes, my chief. Me and my brother have the honor of offering you, the Dragon Prince and the Dragon Princess!"

At those words, he pulled on the chains and the two teens were pushed to stand before the chief. The villagers looked at the teens with fascination. Whispers were heard, but neither Hiccup nor Astrid could understand those. The white-haired man eyed the two with a satisfied look, and though he did stare at Astrid, his attention was soon mainly drawn to Hiccup. His eyes had an almost ferocious satisfaction. He approached and the boy hissed ferociously in an animalistic way, stunning several people around. It seemed to fascinate the chief however.

"A runt, but he has a fierce look."

He took the boy's chin and tried to look at him more closely but Hiccup bit his hand hard. After that, there was pain. Then he fell into darkness.

 **Yes, the old man is an original character, one I imagined a very long time ago for another story I dropped, but I decided to re-use him. The story wasn't much but I liked the character. You'll learn more about who he is in the next chapter. Don't hesitate to review!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

 **Hi everybody! I'm quite proud of this chapter, I got some inspiration back by watching the cartoon 'Redwall' again, it's really a thing from my childhood I loved!**

When the old man struck Hiccup hard enough to knock him, Astrid's first move was to rush to attack the old bastard, but she was stopped immediately by Ryker who passed an arm around her neck and tightened his hold. Hiccup was on the ground and Toothless threw himself at the bars of his cage, unable to roar because of his muzzle, but his eyes were full of despair and anger. Ryker leaned down to speak in Astrid's ear.

"Not a wrong move, girl."

"For your own good, and his well-being, you should listen to my brother," Viggo murmured.

The chief paid attention to her. "Was she raised by dragons?"

"No, she just..."

"I wasn't, you old trash! Next time why don't you just talk directly to me?"

Ryker tightened his hold around her neck, but the chief made a gesture for him to stop. Ryker released his hold; the chief slapped her hard, not enough to knock her out but Astrid still saw a few stars. For a man of his age, he was still incredibly strong! "She'll still need to be tamed it seems. Let's take them to the arena."

"Should have listened to me, girl."

"Shut up."

Viggo took Hiccup on his shoulders while Ryker pulled Astrid along with him. Heather followed and Astrid felt spite at her, she was really like a little dog following her masters around. She took a look at Hiccup who was still unmoving, but he was breathing. The dragons looked miserable and wary; Stormfly's wing was still limp. It had been treated and with some luck, it would heal.

She looked around to see a big village, with many dragon skulls, and also damages caused by dragons. Wait…Dragons would seldom attack human villages since they defeated the Red Death, so why did it seem like a big attack occurred recently in this place? That village was bigger than the one they had on Berk, in fact the island seemed bigger than theirs. Mountains could be seen towering over the village, covered with thick forests which were almost glowing in red with its autumn's colors. That would provide a good hiding place if they managed to escape. Soon, she was brought to the center of the village and she gasped when she saw the arena. It was way bigger than Berk's arena, in fact it was probably one of the biggest buildings she ever saw.

"The games will begin very soon, and many will come to see those. You and Hiccup will be stars," Viggo claimed proudly.

"The games?"

She was pushed inside and saw a huge battle ground surrounded by high walls above which she could see bleachers. At the top of those walls were chains, designed to stop dragons from flying away.

"An arena for dragon fighting?"

"Not only," the chief proudly declared: "it's for different type of fights, we have human fighting, wild boars, bears, wolves and of course dragons. It can give a good variety of combats. But until now, we never had wild children."

He approached her: "You weren't raised by those beasts, but you still have a good tale from what I know. I heard you were also a good fighter."

"Want me to prove it?"

"Yes. In fact, you're having an audience already."

Villagers were already gathering in the arena to see what would happen. The chief seemed satisfied, he turned to his soldiers: "Put the boy and the dragons in cells, you'll send the kid in when he'll wake up. Give the girl a weapon."

"I'm not fighting for you!"

"Then I'm killing your dragon. A Nadder is easy to replace, it won't be much of a loss."

Astrid's face twitched, she hated that man! Yet she knew that she couldn't do anything. She was trapped, surrounded by people who would kill her if she tried to hurt their chief. So she just watched them leave while one guard threw an axe at her.

"What's your name?" Asked she. "I don't even know who is holding us hostage."

He turned toward her one last time: "Heimal, the Blood-thirsty."

That name…She was pretty sure she heard it once, but when? The arena was closed behind him and Astrid found herself standing all alone in the middle of the fighting ground; above her, people were acclaiming the arrival of their chief who stood before his throne:

"Me, Heimal the Blood-Thirsty, give you the enjoyment to watch the girl who tamed dragons and their prince! A ferocious maiden, who fought grow men and the Red Death itself! The Dragons' Princess!"

Cheers and applauds followed, people were excited, and Astrid felt very small beneath that crowd. She was almost like a prey, being eyed like that with nowhere to hide. She wasn't really a warrior to them, just an entertainment. Now she knew what dragons might have felt like when they would make them fight back then on Berk.

"Who, among our champions, will step up to fight her? First blood wins!"

A door was opened and a few people stepped in. She took the axe and readied herself. One young man advanced first, showing his mace to the crowd who acclaimed and cheered. He was in his twenties, tall and broad, she would have to wear him out first, and then give a deadly strike. He rushed toward her and she dodged the first blow and parried the next. She simply dodged and parried at first, but took big steps in every direction possible. He was forced to move around a lot. _Wear_ _him out, force him to lose his breathing…_ She gave him a punch in the chest to cut off his breath. A kick in his stomach followed. The man was soon out of breath, his moves got sloppier. He was about to crush her head with his mace but she swiftly slipped to the side and slammed her axe into his ribs. She cut slightly through his leather armor and the guy held his side in pain.

What?!

There was no blood, maybe one of his ribs had cracked, but it wasn't supposed to happen! She sent the axe right in his side! He should be fatally wounded! She put her hand on the blade and her eyes widened: it was blunt! They gave her a training axe! That weapon hadn't been sharpened to kill at all!

"YOU COWARDS!" She yelled at the top of her lungs.

"What did you expect? We aren't here to fight to death! First blood, he said," snarled the guy.

"If you want blood…"

She rushed at him with a savage yell and the guy just had time to parry. She attacked a few time and he retaliated each time, but he never managed to hit her. First blood! If the mace crashed against her, it wouldn't be first blood! That thing was heavy! It could kill her, while this stupid axe could do nothing! She lowered her head to avoid a blow and sent her axe as hard she could in his stomach. The man's body bent slightly. She threw herself back and slammed her weapon in his head with all her strength. The blade was blunt, but it was still metal. The young man fell in an ungrateful position, completely knocked out. A few drops of blood adorned her training axe. People in the crowd either cheered or booed, but she didn't care, she just looked at the chief with a disgusted look.

Another champion advanced a woman this time, old enough to be her mother. She was swifter then the guy, and though her sword was blunt, she could still hurt Astrid. She wouldn't be worn out of breath so easily, she was slimmer. Astrid had more difficulty to dodge or parry, she had to be offensive now. She attacked the woman's flank but the champion hit her with her elbow and Astrid's head snapped to the side. A violent blow hit her waist and she lost balance. The woman kicked her and she fell on the ground. With a yell, Astrid's opponent was on her to crash her sword on the girl. Astrid rolled to the side. Carried by her rush, the woman crashed the weapon on the ground instead. Astrid sent her axe toward her opponent's head again while getting back on her feet. The woman turned her head toward her. The axe landed right in her nose, breaking it and making it bleed profusely. The blow unbalanced her opponent who stepped involuntarily and clumsily. The woman gave Astrid a look of pure hatred but the girl ignored her.

Astrid's cheek and side hurt from the earlier blows, she was panting heavily. She had spent days in a prison; she got beaten, manhandled, so she wasn't in the best shape to fight. Yet it didn't matter, she still had strength! She wouldn't give up. Before the next champion could come, a man at Heimal's side stood and spoke to the crowd:

"A true warrior and a true wilding! But another one needs to show us his value! We saw the Dragon's Princess, we shall see her Prince!"

Astrid's gut contorted: Hiccup! Guards seized her and dragged her behind a caged door. She saw another door opening, and she saw Hiccup being pushed in the arena.

 **O o O**

When he had woken up, Hiccup had felt dizzy and numb. Yet they had hardly given him time to rest. They had told him he was in the prison under the arena, and that if he wouldn't fight, the dragons would suffer and maybe die. When he had been dragged toward the fighting ground, he had seen Astrid getting hurt by a woman. He had tried to yell, but one of the guards put a hand over his mouth. He had struggled and fought against the man, but the guards managed to hold him and restrain him. Yet Hiccup had been relieved to see Astrid hitting her opponent hard.

"First blood is the winner," they told him. "Good luck, boy!"

They had pushed him and he saw that Astrid had been locked away. He rushed toward her when he heard a ferocious yell. He just had time to see a woman running toward him with an axe. He threw himself aside to avoid the attack. A sword was thrown on the ground and he took it without hesitation. He parried the next blows and attacked. He tried to go for the torso and legs and got the same deception as Astrid when he understood that the sword he had couldn't kill. He hissed in fury, his adversary attacked again and the boy managed to punch her but the woman retaliated with a hard kick and a violent blow. Hiccup fell on the ground and when the woman was about to hit him again, the boy threw a handful of dirt in her face and eyes, stunning her and blinding her. Hiccup threw himself at her with an animalistic yell and disarmed her with a violent blow of his sword before throwing himself at the woman's face. Screams were heard through the whole arena as Hiccup started to bit her ferociously and clawed at her neck. Astrid couldn't help but remember the day he attacked Snotlout that way.

The woman pushed the boy away and stumbled. She certainly never had been bit by an adversary in a fight. Her face was bleeding profusely. Hiccup was about to attack again when a voice spoke: "The Dragons' Prince won!"

First blood, he remembered the guards told him it was first blood only. The man was taken to the healers and he looked up to the chief. It allowed a good part of the crowd to see the blood on his lips and chin and people all commented about his savagery. The chief looked down and for a moment, it almost seemed to Hiccup that he had a proud smile. In fact, Viggo was at his side, and he had the same smile as well. What was wrong with them?! The announcer at Heimal's side spoke again:

"May two champions go forward! I want to see them fight together!"

Astrid was released. She and Hiccup ran toward each other. "Are you okay?" "Are you alright?" The questions were simultaneously asked, and they didn't have time to answer as their adversaries were already there. Two grown men, one with a hammer and the other one with a sword advanced toward them, and put themselves on fighting stances. They teenagers were panting but they did the same. They couldn't refuse another fight, their dragons would perish otherwise. They threw themselves at one another; Astrid attacked the one with the hammer while Hiccup attacked the one with the sword. They parried and attacked, but all the time, Astrid and Hiccup had each other's backs. The guy almost crashed his hammer on Astrid's neck; Hiccup kicked him violently to stop his move. The other one made Hiccup fell on the ground but Astrid his wrist with her weapon to make him release his sword. He did with yelp, not expecting her to attack him.

The wild boy took that occasion to throw himself at his adversary, jumped on him with a roar and bit his face exactly like he did with the woman. The crowd cheered ferociously at this. It pleased them, they had been told those children were wild, and the boy was acting exactly like it. That's what they wanted to see. The man pushed him away and attacked, even though he had already lost. Hiccup dodged his blow and hit him with his blunt sword in the belly. It didn't pierce through, but it was enough to make the man spit some bile and stumble. Hiccup crashed his sword in his face, knocking him out.

Meanwhile, Astrid was facing the man with the hammer. She dodged his next blow and crashed her blunt axe against his foot. The man yelled in pain and Astrid sent her forehead right in his nose. She heard a crack and the man's head snapped back, blood flowed from his nostrils. She sent her weapon in his side out of pure rage, to make him suffer just like they were suffering! They wanted violence, she would give them some! The man punched her and she retaliated with a blow on his other foot. This made the man fall on the ground, his feet were too damaged to allow him to stand. Astrid knocked him out harshly with a furious yell.

Their adversaries were both on the ground; Hiccup and Astrid were panting. The loud sounds from the crowd seemed like poundings in their ears, and the girl slightly stumbled. Hiccup took her shoulder, not wanting her to fall. Would they make her fight again?

"Astrid, what do they want?"

"It's Games to them. They'll have a lot of people coming here for those games and they want us to entertain them."

"They took us for that?!"

It was true that taking the son of Stoick the Vast and the member of an important clan of Berk was really just for their games seemed like a stupid move. It was really a big risk. But now maybe it was also a way for that Heimal to show he feared no one, not even Stoick the Vast.

"We won those fights, but we'll have to fight again, and we could lose the next ones; I don't know what will happen to us then."

"We have to find our dragons first," Hiccup declared.

"I know, no mistake as long as we didn't find them," she murmured, thinking of Stormfly who was still wounded.

Heimal ordered the teens to be put in cage again. The boy snarled, and Astrid had to do her best not to yell insults at them. She could see not only Heimal but also Viggo, Ryker and Heather. Oh, how she hated them!

The two were pulled inside and both of them yelled when they realized they would be in separate cells, far from each other. Astrid was brutally pushed in a corridor to the left while Hiccup was half-dragged to the right. That prison was probably very huge, and it was dark. A few torches enlightened the place, but there weren't much of those, and therefore the place was full of shadows. A gloomy atmosphere reigned, not only because of the absence of light, but also because of the whimpers and pleas they could hear. Those sounds were made by animals and humans. Hiccup was brought into the cell he occupied before; he yelled Astrid's name and then shouted at the guards:

"Let me be with her!"

"So you can plot to escape? No way."

They left without a word and Hiccup threw himself at the bar and howled as loudly as he could. His friends or his brother would hear him, right? At least one of them…He heard some voices asking what the hell that was, and a very loud one yelling:

"WILL YOU SHUT UP?!"

In the gloomy and quiet atmosphere, this voice felt almost unreal. "I need to get out!" Hiccup yelled at whoever spoke.

"Well, so do I," replied the same voice angrily, "but being annoying will not help!"

Hiccup was about to speak again when a loud metallic sound echoed through the dark corridor.

"SILENCE!" Yelled on the guards. "Stop that shit or I won't give you anything to eat."

The dragon-boy growled but stopped. He wanted to yell at those people, to howl, to defy them, but he couldn't. As long as their dragons were imprisoned, they couldn't take stupid risks, not again. And he couldn't get deprived of food; he would need all his strength if they wanted to escape. But how would they do that. He sat in the dark, his back against a wall. This place had been dug in the ground; those were rocks around him, not stone walls. He took a deep breath, he had to calm down, and think.

If he wanted to escape, he needed to locate his friends first. How could he get to them? For that, he needed to know more, could he speak to the guards? They didn't seem talkative. Maybe the other prisoners could tell him more? Maybe they could help one another to escape; after all they were prisoners as well. He just had to wait for the guards to walk away.

He moved and looked through the bars. Two guards were talking together; they were too close to do anything. As time passed, sounds were heard again, whisper, murmurs, weeping, and pleas again. This didn't seem to bother the guards much though; they were probably used to that kind of noises. Hiccup thought about the person who spoke to him, it was a man's voice, and obviously that man wanted to get out; He wasn't really friendly, but maybe they could work together…

BANG!

He jumped in fright at the loud metallic sound. The boy looked through the bar to see a dark figure advancing. Hiccup hissed almost silently at this sight, he was pretty sure this was Heimal, that chief…If only he could gouge his eyes out! Every misery they went through was his fault since the beginning! The man kept advancing, hitting bars with a war hammer to make whoever was in a cell shut up. The atmosphere was suddenly very silent. The boy got away from the bars; he couldn't get too close to that man and his weapon. He watched the shades on the ground and listened.

The few flames were quivering, making the shades dance on the ground, and the only sound was the one of Heimal's footsteps. No one would speak, everyone was listening and waiting. Hiccup stopped breathing for a short moment and he was pretty sure other prisoners did the same. The footsteps grew closer and closer, that moment seemed to last forever. Then, Hiccup saw him appear. The shadows and feeble shades of light gave him an even darker and terrifying face. He turned toward Hiccup and opened the door. When Heimal entered his cell, Hiccup hissed in fury and fear. He couldn't help it, he feared the man almost by instinct. The tall man gave him a lenient smile.

"Calm down, boy. I don't want to hurt you."

"Liar."

He was maybe scared, but not enough to shut down defiance. He knew he had to be careful, but he wouldn't crawl before their captor! The smile disappeared and Heimal stepped toward him in a threatening way: "Careful, boy. Disrespect anger me, you shouldn't say offensive words to me."

Feeling boldness rose, Hiccup's eyes narrowed and he spat on the man, the saliva landing on Heimal's chin. This stunned the man at first; the feral boy smirked: "No bad word."

"Ah, you're bold, I have to give you that…But you need to learn," he wiped the spit away with a ferocious smirk and took the whip from his belt. Hiccup shivered as the thing unrolled like a snake before him.

The boy tensed and threw himself to the side to dodge the first blow. He lunged at the chief but was hit full force by the strong leather. It made him back away and yell in pain. Another followed hitting his legs hard. The boy rushed to the side and tried to attack again. He lowered himself on his four to avoid the next whip, but then, pain spread over his skull and back. He had received the whip fully. He was stunned and stumbled. A hard kick on the back followed, making him lay flatly on his stomach. A blow landed on his back, another one and another one. Hiccup tried to get up but the next blow stopped him. He managed to grab the whip and pulled on it but he didn't have enough strength. Heimdal pulled on it as well and made the boy rise toward him only to send him back on the ground again with a kick. He landed on his back this time, stunned and in pain. His back! Oh gods, his back was hurting like hell! He rolled on the side to spare himself some suffering, some tears of pure pain rolled down his cheeks.

"You're the one forcing me to do this, you know. I have no wish to hurt you."

Hiccup swallowed the bile and hissed: "Liar."

"You're bold." Surprisingly, no blow followed that. "I'm saying the truth, I don't want to hurt you, boy. I wanted to have you here, I wanted to see your strength, and I must say I'm not disappointed. You're a runt but you're swift, fierce and skilled with a sword."

Hiccup wiped the tears and growled: "What do you want? Is it really about your stupid arena?"

The old man smirked bitterly, rolled the whip again and walked in circle around the boy who didn't try to stand anymore.

"You don't know who I am, don't you?"

"A man who kills dragons."

"More than that. Your father never told you about me, didn't he?"

Hearing about his dad surprised Hiccup.

"You know my father?"

"Oh I do…Stoick had always been too soft, I guess he preferred to forget about me. But I won't let him forget me."

He spoke with a cold, collected voice, but the anger was chilling. Hiccup could feel that the man was a predator, he wasn't the kind to be content in a peaceful life. He couldn't help but tense at the idea that this predator had something against his father.

"How do you know him?"

Still drawing circles around him like a vulture, Heimal stopped smirking, but the bitter expression remained. The boy shifted his position to sit down instead of lying on the floor. He was still suffering because of the whip but he couldn't be pathetic. He was the Dragons' Prince and the son of Calla, Thunder and Stoick the Vast!

"You see, I was pretty unlucky with my children. I had two sons and a daughter. My two sons are dead; they fought to death to protect this island. It was honorable, but I lost them nonetheless. As for my daughter…She also died during battle but it's a different story."

He stopped in front of Hiccup, looking down at the boy.

"You see, my little girl was always stubborn, and she had strange ideas…When she was in age to be married, she chose a man I didn't like, a young chief who was maybe strong but far too tender in my opinion. I forbade my daughter to marry him, but she disobeyed and ran away with him. I learned a few years ago that she gave birth to a son, a runt. And after that, she died in a battle against Outcasts, because her husband wasn't able to protect her…I decided I would claim the child, take him away and raise whether his father liked it or not. But before I could take that baby, he was taken away by a dragon. I hated his father even more for that. He had been unable to protect my daughter and my grandson, as he should have. But then..."

He looked down toward Hiccup: "Then I learned surprising news. Apparently the child wasn't dead…Night Furies raised him, because Thor himself protected him when his worthless father couldn't." He crouched to the teen. "Do you understand boy?"

"Your daughter…And the chief she married…"

"Your parents. I'm your grandfather, child."

 **Hope you liked it! Heimal's intention toward Hiccup will be explained furthermore. Don't hesitate to review!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

 **Hi everyone! Sorry for the time it took to update, but I'm finally back! Enjoy!**

It was a huge prison under the arena. No sunlight and no warm air...It was dark too, but it wasn't the kind of darkness she was used to, the gloominess of that place was one she could barely stand. When Astrid was pushed into a cell, she tried to bit the guard who manhandled her but he dodged and slapped her instead. She yelped and released a small growl. A bit and a growl…She didn't know if it was Hiccup's influence or Stormfly's. The other guard pulled him away, reminding they had no right to touch her.

"Don't try to escape, girl, it's nearly impossible to leave that prison" the man warned her while locking the door. "That would just bring you pain."

The man stepped away and suddenly hit the bars of another cell, close to Astrid's one. The sound made her cringe and she heard the guard threatening voice again: "You should remember that too, you pain in the ass!"

Astrid had no idea who they were talking to, but she had to discover it. They started to walk away and she heard a girly voice which sounded tired but determined: "It's nearly impossible to escape from here, but I didn't say my last word!"

The guards just laughed at this and continued to walk away. Another girl replied: "You should shut up, then, instead of saying it out loud for everyone to hear. No need to warn them."

"Shut up yourself, Rosta!"

"Who are you?" Asked Astrid

She couldn't see the prisoners from where she was, but the question was obviously a surprise. She shivered because of the cold and hugged herself to keep some warmth.

"Bog Burglars, we got captured two week ago, I'm Camicazi, Heiress of the Tribe. I heard you are the Dragon Princess, the one who made a pact with dragons and Loki himself!" She declared.

Camicazi! Wait, what did she say?! A pact with dragons and Loki?! "Well I don't know who say such shit but he should know it's hard to make a pact with dragons, because they can't speak. As for Loki, I never met him!"

"Yeah, sure! They say Stoick makes human sacrifice now, just to have his devil of a son back!" Growled a boy's voice somewhere at her right.

"What the hell does that mean?! No one does that on Berk! And we killed the Red Death! That's why your villages are in peace now! Some of her gigantic bones are still on Berk's beach, people saw those!"

A short silence followed, she knew she was right. Since they killed the Red Death, every tribe could celebrate a new peace, because dragon attacks became seldom events, rare even. And people had seen some of the bones which had landed on Berk indeed, proof that the gigantic dragon had been killed here.

"We tamed dragons," Astrid spat, "and that's all! They are animals, difficult animals, but animals still. And animals can be tamed. That's what Hiccup showed me."

"Hiccup?"

"That's the name of Stoick's son," the one named Rosta reminded them. "Some people indeed say he saved his entire island from the Red Death attack, and also from Night Furies, along with his dragon riding friends."

"Oh please! They must be fricking demons to do something like that," Cami sneered

"Camicazi, stop that!" The one named Rosta sighed. "She is prisoner here too."

"Prisoner or not, she is a demon! Hope you're gonna die!" The male voice said.

"We don't even know who you are," Rosta pointed out to the anonymous voice. "Why are you even talking to us?"

"Well I hope I'll have the occasion to kill you," Astrid spat to the voice, then spoke to the others, "and Bog-Burlgars know Stoick the Vast, they should know he wouldn't do anything like baby sacrifice! When he discovered I was friend with the Dragon Prince, he put me in jail and I escaped. He gave me and my friends a chance to prove ourselves only after we showed him the Red death and when we saved the island from Night Furies which attacked. Then we learned how to tame and ride them. That's all, and we don't need to be demons."

"Well, it's kinda a shame, right now we could use a demon's power to get outta here," Rosta sighed.

Astrid was a bit surprised at this and laughed, mimicked by the Rosta girl who spoke again: "What are you here for?"

"To serve as an entertainment, me and Hiccup and our dragons. They made us fight in the arena today. And you?"

"Pretty much the same. I think it's Heimal's goal."

"What do you mean?"

"Taking heirs and heiress of islands in order to keep them hostages and show it. I heard some guards say that he wants to conquer the archipelago. He captured heir and heiresses in order to have leverage and show the archipelago and other countries how powerful he is."

"The tribes will just unite and fight against him! That's a stupid plan!"

"That's what I thought too, I guess he has something planned in order to prevent that. Maybe he just hopes keeping us hostage will stop our tribes from doing anything like that."

"Our tribes would never sit and do nothing while that happens," Camicazi countered, "he is more likely counting on his huge army, and it's big because he has a much bigger island than most of us."

For the first time, Astrid agreed with what she just said. In fact, even though they just argued, they were in the same disaster, and maybe they could be allies. Plus, she had to free them, for their own sake and to stop Heimal's plan. No matter what he planned, it had to be stopped. Rosta didn't seem to dislike her that much, she had to convince Camicazi. They actually met, did she remember her? That was long ago.

"Bog-Burglar came to visit, I remember you, Camicazi, you came with your mother years ago. You were introduced to Snotlout and you beat him into a fight. Then we trained with our axes, you managed to stole some from Gobber's shop. We got grounded in my room but you managed to make both of us escape"

"Wait, you're _that_ Astrid?"

She couldn't believe it, because she remember an Astrid on Berk, and she had befriended her quickly. The girl was a fighter, just like her. _She_ was the Dragon princess?!

"Yes. So you do remember me."

"Yeah," she reluctantly admitted. "And you weren't the kind to befriend dragons back then. You were talking of becoming Berk's best dragon killer."

"Things changed. I realized I was wrong when a dragon saved my life."

"I never heard of a dragon saving someone," Rosta pointed out.

"You just did."

It wasn't exactly that, she had already realized her beliefs were wrong before Toothless and Hiccup came to help her during the battle against the Outcasts. But it made her point sound more legit that way.

"I never heard of that arena," Astrid said, not willing to speak endlessly of why she chose to tame dragons with a wild boy.

"Neither did we, but maybe it's because we're out of the Archipelago," Camicazi said. "There are people coming from other countries, like Celts and even some Romans."

"I don't think we really are on an island, actually," Rosta murmured.

Astrid was about to ask something else when they suddenly heard loud bangs on metal bars. Cami and Rosta both stepped back and Astrid did the same. The guards walking between the cells hit the bars loudly and yelled at them to shut up. He hit the bars especially hard when he came at the girl's level.

"No taking! We have to keep you for tomorrow, but I swear we'll beat you down if you continue your cackle."

"They spoke a lot," the boy from earlier mumbled.

Astrid could have killed him! The guard didn't speak to him and continued to hit the bars hard as a warning. He walked away, still making those loud and unbearable sounds. Tomorrow…The guy said he was keeping them for tomorrow…What was going to happen? Just another match like today? She could take that, and so could Hiccup, but she had a felling it would be otherwise. Oh, where was Hiccup? Where were their dragons? Stormfly…She looked at the lock, she wouldn't be able to undo it, she had to get it open another way. But even if she could get out, how would she get to her friends, free them and get away with a wounded Stormfly? No, she had to devise a plan, and she would have to do it with Hiccup. But she would have to do it in the fighting arena, and it wouldn't be easy…

 **O o O**

 _Grandfather_ …His grandfather!

Hiccup was cramped in a cell, still shaken from what happened and from what he heard. The chief had left the boy there, stunned, confused and in pain. He was doing his best to nurse his wounds, but he could hardly do much in that cell. Questions by thousands ran through his head. Grandfather…It couldn't be true! Was it a lie? After all, Viggo, Ryker and Heather pretended to be castaways…But why would he lie? Those three had a motive; they wanted to get close to him and Astrid. Why would that man lie about being his grandfather? To obtain something from him? But what? It seemed so weird! His father told him some things about his mother, but he never spoke of his grandparents. Why didn't his father speak of him? Maybe he wanted to forget? The silence was deafening, after what he just heard, he didn't want silence, he wanted someone to talk, and he wanted dragon roars… He wanted Toothless! His grandfather…

He heard someone sighing. It was so silent he could hear someone sigh. He didn't know why but he remembered someone yelling at him when he was howling and hitting the bars to call his brother and friends. That person told him to shut up, sure, but at least he had spoke louder than the others who just mumbled. He needed someone to speak! Silence was driving him crazy, questions and his minds were making him crazier!

He breathed in deeply. He didn't only need someone to talk to just to push away all his thoughts: he needed a potential ally. If Astrid, Stormfly and Toothless were far away, he could use someone else's help to get away. Two were better than one most of times. Hiccup breathed in deeply and tried to call the person who yelled at him. Not that he left such a good impression, but no one else seemed willing to speak.

"Hey, are you here?"

No answer. He tried again: "Hey, the guy who yelled at me earlier, are you here."

"Well, did you see me flee from the prison? I don't think so, yes, I'm still HERE!"

Hiccup was quite taken aback, but at least there was a voice. His cell was next to Hiccup's, he couldn't see him but he could at least speak easily. Hiccup approached and put his head next to the bars. The guards were far enough.

"No need to speak so loudly."

"Oh, we're whispering, now?" Breathed the guy, kinda amused. "Okay, better than not doing anything, I swear I'm like crazy right now!"

"Did they make you go to the arena too?"

"Only a few times, I wish it was more often! I much prefer to beat the shit out of some guys instead of staying here, wondering what the heck they did to my sis'! I heard that guy say he was your grandfather?"

"Yeah, that's what he said. But it could be lies."

"How is it you don't know?"

Hiccup hesitated, should he tell? Well, if they escaped together, why not? Plus he would probably learn soon, the guards would say things and all: "I only found my father recently."

"Oh yeah, I almost skipped that: he said you are the son of Stoick, right? The Dragon Kid, the one who used to attack islands with dragons and was raised by them."

"Yep, that happens to be me!"

He heard a maniacal laugh: "You bloody little jerk! It's you! You know I almost got you once? Yeah! You and your dragons were attacking my island, and I almost sliced you in two! But you escaped like a frigging eel!"

That laugh was a bit familiar but he couldn't really remember. "Many people tried to kill me, you know, it doesn't really leave an impact anymore. Who are you?"

"Oh, yeah, formal introduction: Dagur the Deranged, son of Oswald the Agreeable, chief of Berserker Island," the man whispered. "You probably heard of me, right?"

"Hum…I don't think so…But I didn't hear of many things anyway."

"Well, obviously," Dagur said in a pouting tone, "but maybe…" His voice suddenly changed: "Did you hear of my sister? She is prisoner here too, but I don't know what happened to her."

"Your sister? Who?"

"Heather, her name is. Long black hair, green eyes, fourteen years old, pretty girl, even though I call her ugly to annoy her."

Hiccup blinked several times. Wait, something was weird, he did see a girl like that, but she couldn't be that guy's sister!

"There is a Heather like that, but she is Ryker's daughter, not your sister."

"Ryker's daughter?! He doesn't have any kids! Thank the gods, they would be as stupid as he! But…"

"How can you be so sure he doesn't?" Asked Hiccup in a hurry, still whispering.

"I'm pretty sure neither he nor Viggo have kids. They have been annoying Berserker Island for some times, so my father managed to collect as many infos he could about them. My sister and I have been captured some time ago and they said she could be useful for something. But I don't know what!"

Hiccup was speechless at this. Wait…That wasn't logical…He thought again of everything that happened since Viggo and his family arrived and remembered what his father told him about tricks and concealing. What the hell did it mean?! He remembered suddenly He whispered even lower to Dagur that a girl had been introduced to them as Heather, the daughter of Viggo and Ryker, castaway merchants, how she spent time with them and helped to capture them as well.

"Sometimes, the trapper can be the trapped."

"What?"

"She trapped you because she was trapped herself," Dagur whispered as lowly as possible. "Oh, those sons of bitches forced her to do that. I swear I'll murder them."

Suddenly a deafening sound followed. Hiccup was shaken and realized Dagur had hit the bars hard. What got into him?!

"Will you calm down?"

"I'm thinking of her."

Hiccup lowered his eyes. He could understand his feeling; he was so worried for his loved ones! He was thinking of his dad too; he was probably worried, and that chief here seemed to hate him. Stoick was big, he could defend himself, but he wasn't immortal. He thought of Thunder, his Night Fury father, who died during a fight. He was one of the strongest dragons he ever saw, and yet he died. He didn't want to lose another father.

"We'll find her. I'm pretty sure she is still alive."

He didn't know that, actually, but he felt the need to reassure that guy, he could relate to him.

"I have to find my brother too, and my love and her dragon."

"Your love? Oh yeah, so you do have some kind of princess."

"Yes. We're not real prince or princess, but I have her."

"Well, it seems like we'll have to fight together. Funny, at a time, I dreamed to have your head and offer it to my father for my own glory, and today, I'll fight at your side!"

Hiccup was about to say something else when they heard someone walking. They got away from the bars, thinking it was the guards. But in spite of the darkness, Hiccup saw a familiar shape stopping before a cell, along with a guard. Viggo! He hissed as the guard opened the door and Viggo looked at him.

"Look like you got hurt. Can you walk?"

Hiccup didn't answer anything, just stared and shifted his position, ready to jump on the man.

"I don't want to hurt you; I want to speak with you, outside. I can let you see your brother, if you want."

Hiccup gaped slightly: was he telling the truth? Maybe it was a lie to get him up? But he didn't need a lie, he could have the guard do it. He could tell them to drag him outside, he didn't need to lie. Anyway, he had to take that risk, it was a chance to see Toothless, he had to seize it. He stood up and looked at him with wary. His back and sides made him suffer but he made the effort to stand still.

"Come."

He followed Viggo and tried to remember the way out. They finally found themselves in the arena, where animals were locked behind closed doors. It was like the arena of Berk when it used to cage dragons…Before Viggo could tell him which one his brother's cell was, Hiccup howled and heard moans from a cage. He ran to the metallic door and saw Toothless through the tiny hole which allowed the air to pass. He looked through it and saw Toothless chained and muzzled. At the sight of his human, Toothless tried to struggle and free himself but to no avail.

"Open that door!"

"I can't take that risk, Hiccup. He would kill me, and even if I managed to survive, I would be sentenced to death by your grandfather."

Hiccup glared at him at such a word. "He can't be my mother's father."

"But he is. Family is family, Hiccup, even if we don't like it. I didn't love my parents and they didn't love me either, but they were still the people who gave me life, I could never change that."

"Why you don't like your parents?" Asked he, wondering how children and parents could feel no love for one another.

"Well, I was scrawny as a child and Vikings don't really like that. They preferred my brother who was big and all. What I'm saying is that your grandfather is still your blood, and it could be a good thing for you."

"I don't care about him! Let me go inside and see my brother!"

"I can't do that. You saw he was alive, and that's all I can do. I'm not the chief. Now, come with me, you know disobedience have a cost."

Reluctantly, Hiccup did as he was doing, giving one last glance at Toothless, feeling heartbroken to leave him here, unable to do anything. The man led him in the bleachers, when they reached the top, they could see a big part of the village. Hiccup called that a village, but he could see it was much bigger than the one he had on Berk. A strong wind blew and the boy shivered. The sky was getting dark, he could hear the sea roar in the distance and see the mountains around. Freedom looked so close! Yet a part of him was fascinated by that place which was so huge…Viggo noticed that.

"See? That place, that entire place belongs to your grandfather and if you're smart enough, one day it could be yours."

Hiccup looked at him questioningly and the man went on: "He has no other descendant than you. Do you wanna know the real reason why you are here? Heimal doesn't want to use his last heir only to entertain the population. He wants to see what you're worth, he is testing you. And if you're good, he wants everyone to see you're worth the title of Heir."

"What?! That makes no sense! Why would he want to make me his heir? I hate him! What would be the point of making me the chief?"

"Oh, he won't make you the chief right now, certainly not," Viggo laughed. "He wants to break you down first. He wants to make you bend to his will, to break your spirit until you see things his way only. Then, you'll be his perfect heir. That's also why he put you in that arena; he hopes it will break you. And if he can break your princess as well, all for the best."

Hiccup was frozen at this. Break him…He knew what it meant, but he couldn't let that happen! No one would break him!

"Why are you telling me that? What's your point?"

"Believe it or not, but I wouldn't like to see you broken. You're one of a kind, just like me. Heimal is strong sure, but you could be stronger as you are. I can't force you to choose, but if you get tired of your grandfather's treatment, you can still turn to me."

Hiccup was speechless. Was this man really asking him to be his ally against Heimal? What was the catch? The wind blew again and the boy shivered again, but not because of the cold this time.

 **Here it goes! I know there wasn't action in this one, but at least they did discover some things and encounter potential friends. Hope you liked it!**


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